User Reviews

This is a heart wrenching personal story that highlights the problems that the Director and his family encountered as they sought accountability for the mistakes made in their Mother's medical treatment. For those looking for an unbiased expose on the healthcare system in the US, this is not it. Instead, the Director tells his own personal story that is real and could very easily happen to anyone, which makes it all the more poignant. Two areas highlighted that I was not previously familiar with, were the 'tort reform' laws and the eICU's, both of which are seriously concerning.

While some things in this film doesn't quite make sense, I have been through doctors and their bull and they will say anything to make you think it's not their fault when it totally is. I've been through insurance that I pay for not wanting to pay for anything and I know how it is for disability to deny me over and over for years. So even though the film has its flaws, I still hope it's a reality check for some.

I do not think it is a coincidence that for profit hospitals, medical providers, emergency service providers, plus the insurance companies and medical equipment and pharmaceutical providers are all making sure they can protect their "take" from each patient and seeking to reduce any possibility of their being accountable for bad outcomes.

All together the money from their special interest groups have swayed Federal government policies and then State policies. The Citizen's United decision in the 90's just opened the door further for money to overrule public opinion.

The state of Wisconsin is one of many that is pro-business which means corporations come first generally.

The medical device Da Vinci used for surgeries is another latest example of special interests overruling public opinion. The device can be awesome in the hands of surgeons and people trained to use it. Even the manufacturer recommends people be trained on it and there is a 5 tier training program. Yet, 70% of the doctors using it are not trained on it and the number of medical errors created using it are up to 30%. When asked who is responsible for the doctors being trained no one wants to take responsibility. Not the doctors, not the hospitals, not the State, not the Federal government, not the insurance companies, no one. Who ends up paying? Taxpayers when the patients can no longer pay for the damage it caused or their deaths.

Amazing that some hospitals that are not focused on a for profit model are rarely having these issues is it not and have a higher percentage of positive outcomes.

Spoiler follows:



On a side note, one reviewer made a comment about it being one sided which is why I only give it a 8 but they also implied something suspicious was going on 8 days before her 2nd surgery for the failed hip replacement. Maybe they missed the part about her being in overwhelming pain and her personal doctor stating it was unexplained and her family demanding they do something about it which was the reason why she was still there 8 days before the 2nd hip surgery that really screwed her over. It was later found the 1st hip replacement had broken inside of her.

The lack of accountability and the convoluted healthcare systems entirely discriminates against the individual... It was really sad to see such a vivacious woman be confined to bed and broken from the inside as much as she was broken on the outside.

Great job to exposing this deep and misunderstood issue.

This film takes-on the healthcare industry's profit methods and lays it out for everyone to judge for themselves just how macabre, horrifying, cruel and inhumane it has become; a grotesque distortion of what the Hippocratic Oath guarantees.

I really don't care what his intentions were in filming this documentary. If you have EVER in any way had to deal with the horrors of disappointmenting healthcare, you will connect with this piece.

But I have a feeling there's far more here than meets the eye.

As a precautionary tale though, ALWAYS have someone knowledgeable and thoughtful on your side to review your options before ever going under the knife. ASK QUESTIONS-what procedure will they use? Is it a hip replacement or a hip repair? What technique will the doctor use? How many has he done previously? Is there anything in my history that makes me high risk? Is dr aware of my medical history/medications? Etc., all these things BEFORE surgery should absolutely be asked. If you don't have someone you trust implicitly, educate yourself.

Doctors are not infallible and are in no way gods or deities. If you feel this is a contrary opinion, I don't know what to say. But laws and lawmakers that protect against this idiocy are only protecting doctors-not the patients.

I wonder what we don't know about his uncle (Judys brother) that he became so hostile, but I would have liked this explored more. The filmmakers attempt to color him as shady and deceptive feels very forced; show us what was so awful, we shouldn't have to rely on implications when it comes to a character assassination.

I also wonder what the defense put up as their argument-12 jurors are almost always sympathetic to a patient who was ill-treated or killed as a result of medical malpractice, so their arguments must have been very strong and weighted with facts and evidence to substantiate the contrary of the claims made. There's no mention of the final vote count of the jury, and 100% agreement is not required for a civil case, so I wonder how close it actually was, if at all.

I agree with the concept that our system is deeply flawed-however, putting this into the ethos as evidence of a grand scheme in place is somewhat deceiving, and is definitely misleading. Had the ACA not made a complete mess of healthcare and forced everyone to buy into ridiculously expensive plans that cover practically nothing, while those in congress are still receiving their cushy government insurance is evidence of the insane running the asylum.

While you cannot unring the bell of the failure for Judy and on her behalf, one can certainly come away with an example of how money doesn't buy everything. While she was not independently wealthy, she was a teacher who should have been heavily vested within Wisconsin, with a nice retirement fund. Coupled with children who seem to have a fair amount of income and intelligence, yet none intelligent enough to ensure their mother received proper care.

If you're not comfortable with the care you or a loved one are receiving, demand better. Get second and third opinions, seek out those with the expertise to advise you as to your rights and responsibilities. Go over your bills, look at the itemizations (we were once 'erroneously' charged 500.00 for acetaminophen until we called to question it) even if your insurance happens to be good and pays the entirety of the bill-insurance fraud is rampant and costs us all in the end. Check into credentials, look at reviews, be your own best advocate.

The hospitals/clinics/doctors/nurses/staff are NOT there to help you, they will always circle the wagons to protect the room line, and expecting otherwise is a fool's errand.

Overall, a decently told story with sad outcomes and exposing something to those who wish to see-but expecting anyone to make it go away without being a frontline participant won't happen.

This is the kind of informative documentary every American needs to see.

The healthcare, insurance and legal systems are so biased and unfair to the general public. This film documents the struggles of one family to show the awful care to a family member over 10 years. The deck is so stacked against the public. There is almost no accountability by the professionals and they continue to harm patients all across America.

Well done film. All families with a loved one in a hospital or other care center should watch. Be an advocate for your lives one and keep them safe.

If you know Steve Burrows, like I do, you'd get what self sacrifice looks like. Of course, as viewers of his film, anyone is entitled to imagine alternate motivations for the making of Bleed Out - as a few cynical reviewers have posited. Some suggest he made the film and let the lawsuit linger to somehow benefit his own life? My goodness, no. I've known Steve for over a decade...first as a comedy director who shot several commercials for me, and now as a close friend who resurfaced after 10 years of taking care of his mother. Shooting this film was never his goal... In fact, the moment he left LA for Wisconsin he gave up working as a director - meaning, he was without an income, facing mounting medical bills on behalf of his mother, and putting his career and life on hold indefinitely - the entire time he took care of Judy because that was the only choice in his mind. Nearly half of his professional life disappeared as he did the only thing he knew how to do...love his mom, and use his skills to document her unacceptable medical "care". Before Bleed Out, Steve wrote, acted and directed the silliest - dare I say sophomoric - work you can imagine. Google Glass Nickel Pizza for a laugh. Or track down his feature film Chump Change - the cameos from legendary comedic actors alone are worth it. That's the Steve I know. Always upbeat. Always grateful for his success (I watched him shake every hand of his crew after a shoot once, look them in the eye, and say thank you before he would even think of wrapping for the night). Steve is pure positivity. Even in the face of the most harrowing events in his personal life. Watch his film and take it at face value. There is nothing other than what you see. He had no other agenda. Once you accept that, you'll understand how heartbreaking - and heartwarming - his experience has been.

A riveting, jarring, oftentimes nihilistic view, of a healthcare system fraught with moral turpitude. It is downright dirty, and hard to believe --- we are seeing how the inner workings, of the American healthcare industry, fail the American people...at every level. It should be labelled 'Horror' documentary. Because if you're not scared by the end of it...you're spineless.

I wish every person in America would see this film. The film tells a specific story to illustrate the dynamics and costs of medical errors which are the third highest cause of death in the US. It does a great job of presenting a complex story comprehensively and skillfully making this an informative and watchable film. The story doesn't rely on developing a victim to draw the viewer in. Both mother and son, the film maker, come across as regular people who've managed to live well for the most part and who enter the encounter with the healthcare system expecting a reasonable standard of care with some accountability to the patient. The mother had had two successful knee transplant surgeries and was being operated on by the same surgeon.

Sadly, things went wrong and that one bad surgery lead to a cascade of errors that went on and on because there was no accountability built into the system and each error meant more care and more profit for providers. The mother's suffering is terrible as is the son's although he minimizes it as the film maker. He maintains a steady focus on the imprenetable wall that surrounds the healthcare system and prevents patients from ever holding anyone accountable for care that creates harm rather than benefit.

This documentary seems totally believable and accurate to me and it depicts the extreme suffering that our medical system imposes On many patients toward the end of their lives. I've experienced unresponsive hospital systems where no one is in charge and as a patient you have no way to get pain or questions about what really happened in surgery addressed. Its maddening and terrifying and as long as everyone (except the patient and floor nurses) are making ridiculous amounts of money without being held accountable for outcomes nothing will change.

Watch it and WAKE UP! The ACA that a court declared unconstitutional recently included some outcome based incentives in the healthcare system.

My heart goes out to the Burrows family. This is my family's story too. There is nowhere to place our anger, sense of betrayal, and deep despair. The system is stacked against the individual - who is not at fault. My mother suffered terribly from a medical error that dramatically affected her quality of life for the next 20 years. Because she was a resilient person, she worked hard to maintain her dignity and to hold on to what capabilities she had. But she never forgave the medical system for their total denial of responsibility, nor did her family. The situation is heartbreaking and immoral.

Ive seen and been in situations like this before. Ive been pushed out of a job for speaking up. Of course it is one sided. Its a documentary by the people affected.

Commercials director goes to bat for his sixty - nine year old mom when problems with a redo of a partial hip replacement leave her intellectually and physically highly damaged following a low blood pressure induced coma possibly caused by loss of blood during an operation. A number of problems rear up in this piece that just cannot be viewed as side issues. The time and effort put in by the director to bring a civil case to court just did not ring true as a desire to " help mom"...I suspect he saw this family tragedy as an opportunity to make and sell this doc...nothing heinous about this but one has to wonder. Lots of moments of interest which make the film more " entertainment " in the bigger sense of the word than an honest, objective recounting of what really took place. The behavior of uncle doctor screams there's more here than meets the eye, the use of monies other than mom's is another source of concern...two of the families on mom's side are well to do but there's only a single seeming misleading reference to any money ponied up to pay for mom's care that come from anywhere but mom's assets. and John Q Public taxpayer. Never explained how the court case was fully funded...would seem to have been way more than the 100k figure thrown out. The decisions made by the plaintiffs' attorney as to how to present the case seem not to make any sense and are just mentioned as " to provide best chance of winning ". If one reads between the lines a viewer can see how the defense could have attacked the allegations of the plaintiff but the only time spent on showing the various evil strategies is to show them looking suspicious during depositions. There's an obvious absence explanation of the defense arguements used in court. I can see problems with the course of medical treatments but was there negligence involved or more a confluence of negatives that fall short of the requirement for compensation. I would have preferred a more balanced presentation as I was left with questions about several of the events dished up by the film maker that caused me to feel I was being manipulated.

A heartbreaking, but necessary to see story. Insurance companies are evil. The health care system is broken. Please watch this movie and do what you can to try and fix this huge problem which could affect any of us. Voting for politicians who aren't bought off by industry is the least we can all do. This isn't what America should be like. Thank you Steve Burrows for making this movie. And I have to say, the 'celebrate good times' part had me laughing hard. Glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humor.

When tort reform went into effect at the time of President Bush's administration, many thought that capping amount a malpractice victim could recover would result in lower medical costs. Boy were these people wrong. All this has done is let big hospital chains and physician insurance companies keep their money when they have been the perpetrators of horrible wrongs against patients and their families. It's time to revisit these state laws and allow victims adequate compensation. This documentary examines the case of the mother of the director and the years of struggle she has endured since she became the victim of harrowing medical error. The documentary is well done and you, the viewer, will not want to miss a minute. There is no boring droll here. Please watch and become enlightened.

Phenomenal. The storytelling is incredibly engaging, heartbreaking and compelling. I walk away a much wiser consumer of health care and will never look at medicine the sane way again. To think that medical errors is the third highest reason for death is stunning. Things must change!!! Thank you for sharing your story and I am so sorry for what has happened to your mom!!!!

A crushing look at the US's failed Health Care System. This is a look at the system through the eye of a family that was privileged enough to struggle through & be able to fight back. I wont spoil anything here. Most aren't in that position & thats a crime in itself. The movie is anecdotal however its familiar to most of us. Its a tough movie to watch because of the anger it agitates but we need that anger if we want a better system for us & our children.

I'm glad you did this documentary. People need to see this. I would give it 100 stars if I could.

I personally think that this movie shows one side of the story. Airline industry and an individual health care are not the same thing. Each particular kind if jet engine/plane might work the same way but the human body doesn't. Making fun of the health care is not the right way to approach things. Outcome of the person shown in the movie are known complications, it doesn't mean medical error.

This is a mission of love, a son trying to do right by how his mother was wronged by the medical system. It's appalling and revealing to see how she was treated, I wish this wasn't how things happened and I wish we could do more about it. It's important to share this message. A great film that touches your heart.